How Overcommunicating the Why Creates Change Champions with Willie Brown | Podcast Shorts from ArceeHQ

In this clip

Willie Brown explains his change management approach for revenue cycle initiatives at Sentara Healthcare, built on two practices: establishing a clear why and return on investment before any launch, then staying actively engaged throughout execution. He addresses skepticism through change champions, getting peers and colleagues on board to carry hesitant team members along more effectively than a directive from above, and by overcommunicating the purpose behind each initiative through consistent check-ins. His principle is that leaders who announce a change and disappear undermine the credibility of the initiative, while staying at the table and sharing in both the difficulty and the celebration is what makes revenue cycle improvement feel like a collective effort rather than an imposition.

Key Takeaway

Change management in revenue cycle succeeds when leaders establish the why and the ROI upfront, recruit change champions to carry the message peer-to-peer, and stay visibly engaged throughout execution rather than delegating accountability after the announcement.

“The worst thing you can do as a leader is say we’re doing this and then leave the room. If we’re doing it, we’re doing it together.”
Willie Brown, Vice President of Revenue Cycle, Sentara Healthcare

Leadership

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Willie Brown

Season 2 · Episode 2 · 34 min

Leading with ROI, Team Alignment, and Strategic Discipline: Building High-Performance Revenue Cycle with Willie Brown

Willie Brown · Vice President of Revenue Cycle, Sentara Healthcare

Willie Brown shares an ROI-first framework for setting strategic priorities in a not-for-profit health system under constant staffing and payer pressure. Drawing from his experience leading revenue cycle at Sentara Healthcare, he explains how aligning every initiative to organizational goals, measuring change impact, and building internal leadership capacity shapes everything from technology adoption to team culture. The conversation covers a six-month effort to build a charge reconciliation dashboard internally rather than acquire a vendor solution, the decision-making framework behind that choice, and the measurable outcomes Willie expects across gross revenue, denial rates, and coder productivity. Willie also shares his perspective on agentic AI in authorization management, a registration quality assurance tool his team is developing, and his approach to change leadership through clear communication, change champions, and an authentic open-door policy.

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